Attributed to Francesco Righetti

This astonishing set of busts the Twelve Caesars is inspired by Seutonius' famous De vita Caesarum, a chronicle of the lives of the first Roman Emperors, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian.

Francesco Righetti, who trained under Luigi Valadier (1762-1839) was famed for his high quality bronze reductions of famous antique models which were much sought after by Grand Tourists visiting Rome in the 18th and early 19th centuries. His 1794 catalogue, Aux Amateurs de l'Antiquité et des Beaux Arts, lists a set of 'douze Césars,' although presented on trophies (as opposed to the present busts which sit on socles). See the Bust of the Emperor Tiberius in our Master Sculpture from Four Millennia auction, lot 133, for an example of this type. Righetti and his son continued to work into the first decades of the 19th century. They are obvious candidates as makers of the present, beautifully cast and mounted Emperors. A single Caest of the Caligula, is in the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest where it is described as French, 18th century (in the Louis XVI style) (inv. no. 2017.3).

The present set is exceptional because it is complete and forms a powerful ensemble.

Karsten Schubert (1961-2019)

Karsten Schubert was an influential Anglo-German art dealer who played a leading role in promoting the Young British Artists (YBAs) in the 1980s and 1990s. Schubert exhibited the likes of Rachel Whiteread, Alison Wilding, Gary Hume, Michael Landy and Ian Davenport, as well as then more internationally well-known artists such as Gerhard Richter and Bridget Riley. Later in life Schubert founded Ridinghorse a high-end art historical publisher, named after an art space he had opened in 1995 with Charles Asprey and Thomas Dane.

In Schubert’s obituary in The Guardian, Charles Darwent noted that, ‘For all his love of Britain and English tailoring – he became a British citizen not long before his death – he had a depth of culture and historical understanding that remained admirably German…. When he wrote his own history of museology, The Curator’s Egg (2000), it was with the easy assurance of one who could quote Marcus Aurelius from memory’.

Karsten Schubert was a member of the Faculty of the Fine Arts of the British School at Rome, and sat on the Advisory Board of Drawing Room London. His personal art collection including drawings by Cezanne and Mondrian, as well as ancient sculpture. Schubert’s interest in Grand Tour bronzes cast after antique models reflects both his erudition and his rich intellectual heritage.